Vehicle bed



May s, 1923. 1,454,037

R. E. BYRNE VEHICLE BED Filed 'June 13 1921 1"" .lllllnumhh julwlllllllm" 24 Milllllllliiiimw I Patented May t8, i923.

'UN'ETFD SFTES RALPH! n. BYRNE, or @Kansas CITY, MISSOURI. y

VEHICLE BED.

Application filed .Tune 13,

vToy all whom t may concern Be it known that I, RALPH E. BI'RNE, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Kanf sas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and .useful Improvements in Vehicle Beds; and

I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in. the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the, figures of may-swing laterally and downwardly to per-v reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to combined vehicle beds and'lstake pockets, the stake pockets being so co-related with the bedproper that they can function as bases for the stakes to maintain the load upon the bed or they may function as skids foreffecting side delivery l `of the load from the bed. 's d For example, in the normal position of the pocketsv they will support the stakes vertically in the usual way but they are hinged to the sides lof the vehicle bed so that they mit the free ends of the stakes to rest upon the ground so that the stakes, in conjunc- -v by all of the stake pocketsl onv one side of the bed or body may be simultaneously released to ermit the load to be discharged. i

he novel arrangement as well as the details of construction of the preferred form of my invention will be understood by reference to the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. l is a perspective view of a vehicle g bed constructed in accordance with my invention.v 1

Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of one end of a bolster, a stake pocket securing means, and part of one of the transverse sills 192i. yserial No. 477,075.

Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of oner of the stake pockets.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view' on the line 4#-.4 of Fig. 2.

i Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view fr4 orrlcagj of one of the stake pocket latch actuators and ends of co-o'peratin'g'rod sections, and

Fig. 6 is adetail perspective view of one of the transverse sill supporting blocks which also carries the retaining latch lfor the stake pocket.`

[The vehicle bed is shown as'consisting of i' channel side sills 1 and 2, connected by the holsters consisting of parallel channels 3 and 4 with a space between'` them. Thebottoin resting upon the top flanges of the channels 1 and '2, to which they may be secured' by bolts, rivets or other suitable fastening means. The ends of the holsters project slightly beyond the edges ofthe side sills l and 2' and in the space between them at each end are blocks 5. Each vblock is shown as having lugs or projections 6 and 7' at opposite ends, 'Aj which rest upon the top flanges 8 andy 9Uof` the channels 3 and 4, to which they! maybe secured in any appropriate manner, ,y the major portion of the block filling the space between the webs of the channels, as clearly seen in Fig. 2. n f v Each `block is provided with' a recess .10, in which is a vertically 'slidable'latch bolt 11, having depending pins 12 near its respective ends, around which are coiled bolt-projecting springs 13,' one end of each spring resting against' the fioor of the recess 1'() andthe other-against the under side, of thelbolt bar or latch 11, which may 'normally extend above the upper edge of the block 5. y

The inner face of each block 5 "ispro-vided with a shoulder 14, bisected Vby a. vertical groove or recess 15, see Figf,` The blocks 5, in' addition to serving. asspreaders and tie members for thc bolster channels 3 `and 4 and as bolt-supporting means, also constitute seats for the transverse sills 16. ,'Thev sills 16 are shown as arcuate` T-bars, ythe top' flanges of which constitutethe floorof` the flanges of the channels 3 and 4 are' shown as f ioo bed upon which the load restsiandgea'chfsill 16 is curved toward the lside of the bed so' thatthere will be a normal tendency for the load to divide and shift to opposite sides of the bed when the stake pockets yto be'hereinafter described are released. l

Thei ends of the top flanges. of the T- y bers 3 ande vare pairs of brackets 18 and 19 having depending arms 2O and 21 which eX- tend below the channel members 3 and 4 and Which carry hinged pintles in the form of rods 22, on whichis mounted the barrel or sleeve member 23 of the stake pocket 24. Each stake pocket comprises a tubular stakereceiving socket portion 25, open` at both ends, anda base member 26, .to the lower edge of which the hinged barrel 23 is secured. The;base 26 maybe constructed with side flanges 27 .and.28, which, together with the main body portion or plate ofthe base, constitute. boxes for lboxing in the ends of f, the bolsters,.as will be clearly apparent by reference to Figs. 1 and l. 'This enhances the appearance. of the vehicle The bolts or spring-pressed latch bars 11 are provided atthe lowerends'of their pins 12V which extendV 'below the yblocks 5 with transverseconnecting bars 29, .which connect the respective pins 12 and which are adapted to be engaged by the lips 30 of the actuators 31, which are shown as sleeves engaging the ends of the rod sections 32 and 33. The ends of Atherod sections 32 and 33 are polygonal to engage the polygonal recess 34E of said rod sections. The lrod sectionsare journaled'in the bolster channels, Aas clearly seen in Figs. 1, 2 and l.

The rods can be--of any construction but they may be made sectionally for convenience :in assembly. Vlhether the rod is a single rod or a.sectional rod will depend upon the judgment of the manufacturer `but l prefer to have one end 35 ofthe operating rod polygonal so that a crank, hand wheeler other actuatingdevice vmay be placed thereon to turn rthe rod so that all of the actuators o 31 will be operated at the same timesothat their lips will-'contact with the tie bars 29 .to .withdraw the bolts or latch bars 11 from engagement 4,with the inner walls 36 of the socket members 25 to release vthe latches from engagement therewith and permit the stake pockets toswing outwardly and downwardly softhat the ends ofthe stakes 37 will rest upon the ground and constitute skids ingly supported on the pintles 22 and the top edges of the latch bars 11 engaging the forward walls 36 of the sockets 25, the load may be convenient-ly supported against lateral displacement. lf it is desired to dump the load, a suitable crank Wheel or similar device may be applied to the end 35 of the actuating rod so that all of the actuators or releasing devices 31 on one side of the vehicle may be caused to operate at the same time to simultaneously withdraw 'all of the latches from engagement with the pockets. The pressure of the load against the stake pockets will cause the stakes and pockets to swing outwardly and downwardly so that the load will automatically release itself. lf the actuators on the opposite side of the vehicle, are operated to release the stake pockets at that side, the remainder of the load willbe deposited to the side of the vehicle, it being understood that whenv the transverse bars 16 are employed, the load will have a tendency to divide itselfntoy discharge on opposite sides of the vehlc'leja-lthough, as heretofore stated, the 'arcuate transverse sills 16' may be eliminatedfif desired. I

vWhen it is desired to` restore 'the stakes andthe pockets to their'functional'position for maintaining the load on the body, as shown in` Fig. 1, they may be swung fuplinto such position, the edges ofthe 'plates' riding over the curved `portions '38V `of "the latch bars 11. rIhe latch bars are depressecl slightly during this operation against. the Mm action of the spring13, this movement being permitted without affectingV the actuators 31 since vthe latch bars 11 may have independent movement with respect 'to l the actuators because the lips '30 merely "lie 105 between the pins 12 and r above the tie bars129- lt will also be apparent that thetransverse sills 16 may be conveniently n'removed so that the load will rest directly 'upon-the holsters, or rollers may be substituted be- 110 tween the bolster members 3 and 4, :if desired. The substitution of rollers, however, constitutes no part yof the kpresent invention since rollers in connection with vholsters `are shown in my 'former Patent No. '1,334,618115 of March 23, 1920.

What I claim and desireto 'secure by Letters-Patent is: n

1. A vehicle bed comprising side sills, transverse sills connecting them, -the ltrans- 12o verse sills being arranged in pairs, blocks between the sills of each pair and'at each end thereof, stake pockets hinged Atofthe` sides of the vehicle bed, 'and sliding-latches carried by the blocks land engageable'with- 125 the stake pockets to normally hold theinin vertical position. v

2. A vehicle Ibed comprising yside sills, transverse sills connecting them, the transverse sills being arranged in pairs, blocksv las between the sills of each pair and at each end thereof, stake pockets hinged to the sides of the vehicle bed, sliding latches carried by the blocks and engageable with the stake pockets to normally hold them in vertical position, and means for actuating said latches.

3. A vehicle bed comprising side sills, transverse sills connecting them, the transverse sills beingarranged in pairs, blocks between the sills of each pair and at each end thereof, stake pockets hinged to the sides of the vehicle bed, sliding latches carried by the blocks and engageable with the stake pockets to normally hold them in vertical position, and means for simultaneously actuating all of the latches on one side of the vehicle bed to stake-pocket-releasing position.

4. A vehicle bed comprising side sills,

transverse sills connecting them, stake pocky ets hinged to the sides of the vehicle bed and having vertical walls, and vertically slidable `latches carried by the vehicle bed and projectable into the bottom of the stake pockets to engage the inner walls of the stake pockets to normally hold them in vertical positions.

5. A vehicle hinged to the side of the vehicle bed and having outwardly swinging movement to bed, vertical stake pockets release thev load, vertical latches carried by the vehicle bed, the ends of which are receivable within the lower portions of the stake pockets to normally prevent outward swinging movement thereof, and a single rock shaft for releasing all of the sliding latches on one side of the vehicle bed.

` Inv testimony whereof I afiiX my si ature. RALPH E. BY NE. 

